Eva Green brings force to secretive, troubled characters. We rate her most when she has someone worth arguing with: in Casino Royale, questioning Bond’s opinion of himself makes him more interesting and gives us reason to care about them both.
Fi1m perspective
In Casino Royale (2006), Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd challenges Bond without seeming to ask for his approval. Daniel Craig lets uncertainty enter his performance in response, and their conversations become something to wait for between the action scenes. Green makes it credible that this arrogant man might care about somebody. We found ourselves caring about him too, because she made questioning his opinion of himself seem worth the trouble.
The early films placed her in quite different surroundings: Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (2003), her film debut, then Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven (2005). Vesper brought international recognition, and she has since worked across studio films, independent productions and television. Her recurring collaboration with Tim Burton began in 2012. The casting has often favoured eccentric, troubled or supernatural women, making it easy to forget how much of her appeal in Bond comes from a direct exchange between two people.
Martin Campbell gives that exchange space in Casino Royale, letting the pair be funny without cancelling out what they mean. Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis provide sharp dialogue, but Green has to make Vesper’s objections matter beyond the pleasure of a good line. She does: Bond’s arrogance is something another person has to deal with, and Craig allows her judgement to affect him. Our reservation about the film is its protracted final stretch, not the time spent in their company.
Television gave her Vanessa Ives in Penny Dreadful (2014–2016), a lead role suited to her intense, physical approach to troubled characters. Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016) gives her an eccentric authority figure to play. These parts make sense, though the repeated invitation to be dark and enigmatic can become a restriction. We would be wary of treating that familiar casting as the full measure of what she can do.
For a first encounter with her work, we would still choose Casino Royale. Campbell trusts the actors to show what the violence costs, and Green gives us a reason to stay interested when it stops. The next director offering her a mysterious woman should have something more in mind than the fact that she has played one before.
Biography
Eva Gaëlle Green is a French actress and model. Born in Paris on 6 July 1980, she is the daughter of actress Marlène Jobert. She studied at the American University of Paris and trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London before beginning her professional career on stage in Paris.
Green made her film debut in Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (2003). She gained wider recognition as Sibylla in Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and as Vesper Lynd opposite Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (2006). For the latter performance she received the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2007.
Her other screen credits include The Golden Compass (2007), Dark Shadows (2012), 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016) and Dumbo (2019). She has also appeared in the television series Wednesday (2022).
